today at 5pm: a taskforce will take over parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it handled the grenfell tower disaster. the housing minister admits the initial response to the tragedy from the council "wasn't good enough", and there was "a lack of trust." during the harrowing accounts of survivors has been the most humbling and moving experience of my life. the families that i've met have been through unimaginable pain. 250 specialist investigators are now working on this enquiry. the met police say it is the largest and most complicated enquiry they have ever had to deal with. the search and rescue phase and the search and recovery phase will not be over until the end of the year. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm: theresa may defends

the government's public sector pay "cap" after pressure from some of her cabinet to lift it. it isn't fair to go out and tell people they can have all the public spending they want without paying for it. wages are rising by 2.1% while inflation is nearly 3%. six million workers already earn less than the living wage. what part to be quiet do you not understand? shut up! failed by the police — the disabled refugee whose repeated pleas for help were ignored — and who was brutally murdered. the debate over tuition fees — a new report says students in england from the poorest backgrounds can expect debts of nearly £60,000. munching through the bamboo curtain — angela merkel and the chinese president xi jinping hope these giant pandas will bring them closer together. and back on centre court, andy murray seeks to defend his wimbledon title in the second round against dustin brown.

it's 5 o'clock. our main story: the government is to send in a taskforce to take over the running of parts of kensington and chelsea council after severe criticism of the council following the grenfell tower fire. police say all visible human remains have now been removed from the tower block. they've made what they say are "87 recoveries", but have stressed that because of catastrophic damage, that doesn't necessarily mean 87 people. here's our correspondent leila nathoo. the people who lost everything when grenfell tower went up in flames, where were they to go? theresa may promised everyone

affected by the fire would be rehoused within three weeks. her deadline, today. this afternoon, an update in the commons. i can confirm that every family that is ready to talk to the housing team has been offered a temporary home. 139 have received offers of accommodation. 19 families have not yet been ready to engage in the process. we need to respect that. just 1a families have accepted accommodation offers tours. —— offers. labour says survivors need permanent homes urgently. it's the government's actions that count in getting grown gre nfell tower residents the help and new housing they need. and giving them, and the wider community in kensington the confidence that what is promised will be done. i have to say to him the government has been slow to act. it's been off the pace at each stage

following this tragedy. this tragedy clearly affecting a minister new to thejob. hearing the harrowing accounts of survivors has been the most humbling experience of my life. the families that i've met have been through unimaginable pain. this is a tragedy that should never have happened. we are determined to do everything we can to make sure something like this never happens again. the government says it recognises that concerns over the location and quality of alternative homes have prevented residents from moving. they say no one will be forced into a home they don't want. don't promise anything to us, that within three weeks we have to move into places. we don't want a place.

we want a nice place that we will eventually be calling home. we understand that it is very difficult, there are not so many flats available, not so many houses you can offer us. the council has been criticised for its response to the fire. the government has been under pressure to send in commissioners to take charge. now it has been announced that a special task force will take over. ina special task force will take over. in a statement, the minister said, supports to survivors, the families and friends of those who lost their lives and residents in the wider community must and will be ongoing. the challenge of providing that support is and will continue to be significant. i want to help the council meet that challenge. this intervention is putting in place the foundations that will support the longer term recovery. kensington and chelsea council is welcoming what it called help from central government here, saying the scale of the disaster had made it difficult to cope alone. but the decision to order in a new team gives the sense the authority has badly handled

the aftermath of the fire. with residents still traumatised and waiting to be rehoused, and scepticism about the public inquiry, its chairsirmartin moore—bick has this afternoon said he would like to hear suggestions about the questions he should be seeking to answer. there are no shortage of those. andy moore is at grenfell tower. first of all, tell us what is the latest on the police attempts to get an accurate death toll from the disaster? well, we had an update from the police today. the first in quite a while. they said the last of the visible human remains were removed from grenfell tower on monday evening. they say they have made recoveries of 87 and those have been taken to westminster mortuary,

but they are keen to emphasise that that doesn't necessarily mean 87 individuals. they emphasise it is a very difficult process. they say there is 15.5 tonnes of charred debris to go through on every floor. 250 specialist investigators are at work. we have seen some of them working today, occasionally coming to the windows, prepping working today, occasionally coming to the windows, propping up one side of the building. that is an operation that will last through to the end of the year. that search and recovery operation. we were told once again today that some of the victims may never be identified, even after all of that hard work. and we have heard today of this task force that is being sent in. do we know exactly what it will do? well, this is something for the long—term. it will take over from the grenfell response team that is working at the moment. that is a multi—agency team. local government, central

government, the red cross, the fire brigade, the police, all working together to help residents, but that is only for the short term. i think the idea is that this recovery task force will take over thatjob, hopefully with a smooth transition and take on some of the more difficult tasks that clearly the council has been failing on with the resignation of the chief executive and the leader of the council. what we don't know is the composition of that task force. we are waiting for that task force. we are waiting for that sort of detailed to emerge. many thanks indeed. i'm joined now by the labour mp clive betts — who was chair of the commons communities and local government select committee until the general election. thank you very much for being with us. thank you very much for being with us. do you welcome this task force thatis us. do you welcome this task force that is being sent him? well, i think clearly something had to be done but whether it is the right something is the question at this stage. 0n something is the question at this stage. on monday in the house of

commons, i asked the secretary of state how he would respond to the request from the mayor of london to send commissioners in to run certain aspects of kensington and chelsea, particularly around social housing. he has not use the word commissioner. he used the word task force. who do they report it? we understand it will be the secretary of state. what powers will it have? and will be responsible and accountable for running social housing in kensington and chelsea? that responsibility will remain with the council. 0n the part of the issues around grenfell and the aftermath go to the task force. it is very unclear at the present. what you think are the most important priorities for now? we've heard a lot of unhappiness for the residents about being rehoused.” lot of unhappiness for the residents about being rehoused. i think that is the obvious immediate priority. the government has made promises of the three—week deadline, which has expired now and getting obvious to everyone. i understand so far only three families have actually moved

into temporary accommodation. 1a had accepted office. so a lot of offers may have been made but whether they are deemed to be suitable by those who they have been made to i think is still very questionable. so that is still very questionable. so that isa is still very questionable. so that is a big issue and an immediate issue. the second is getting some more social housing into areas like kensington and chelsea because otherwise in an area of great shortage all that will happen is that, yes, the survivors of this terrible tragedy will be rightly rehoused in permanent accommodation in the locality, but other people in beauly urgent needs in that council area will be pushed out of possibility of social housing for many years to come. so let's get some more social housing provided as a second issue. and then thirdly, what is the task force powers going to be? will they be spelt out clearly? 0ne to be? will they be spelt out clearly? one of the worst things is to have confusion and uncertainty. if in the end it is not certain to people whether the council are still going to be running things or whether it will be the task force, thatis whether it will be the task force, that is a complete recipe for

disaster with people blaming each other in the future when things go wrong again. the fact a task force has been sent in a poll is obviously a mark of the failure of the council. how surprised i knew about kensington and chelsea's failures? because you lead a council in sheffield and you have experience of that. what would you say about the weight kensington and chelsea failed? i think it was appalling. all can completely anticipate the disaster of this kind. but you have got to have emergency response measures in place. you have got to have a plan which has been agreed between the council and the police and the fire service. properly planned to get everybody in and the ambulance service and everybody. they have got to be party to that and it has got to kick in very quickly. kensington and chelsea really were terribly slow and didn't seem to recognise the importance of them taking control of the situation. so the immediate response was welcome to try to do with that issue, but there are real questions

110w issue, but there are real questions now about whether the council having lost the chief executive of leader are capable of continuing to manage their social housing stock. is this task force going to be given that responsibility or not? very unclear andi responsibility or not? very unclear and i will ask more questions about this. thank you very much for being with us. thank you. theresa may today seemed to be sticking to the government's pay cap of 1% on public sector workers, despite growing pressure from members of her own cabinet to relax it. at prime minister's questions, the labour leaderjeremy corbyn accused her of exploiting the goodwill of thousands of teachers, nurses and other public employees. earlier, the fire brigades union said its members had been offered a pay rise of up to 3%. mrs may said the government had to be fair to public sector workers — and to those who pay for them. let's hear from our assistant political editor, norman smith. good evening. good evening. well, you get the sense that theresa may

has decided to dig in over this 1% pat’- has decided to dig in over this 1% pay. very striking the line which i’u ns pay. very striking the line which runs the prime minister today. acknowledging the public sector workers in her words to important workers in her words to important work but again and again stressing the need to get the deficit down, to ta ke the need to get the deficit down, to take difficult decisions, to live within our means. not to do so, she said, would riskjob losses and burdening future generations with more debt. this after we have seen a sort of public wrestling match between different members of the cabinet over the issue of public sector pay. borisjohnson and michael gove arguing for an easing of the pay. the chancellor, philip hammond, pushing back, and theresa may deliberately i think echoing some of the words used by the chancellor, saying you have to have afair chancellor, saying you have to have a fair balance between taxpayers and public sector workers. all this afterjeremy corbyn accused theresa may's cabinet of flip flopping over public sector pay. wages are rising by 2.1% while inflation is nearly 3%.

6 million workers already earn less than the living wage. what does the prime minister think that tells us about seven years of a conservative government, and what it's done to the living standards of those people on whom we all rely? to get our public services, health services, delivered to us? just to underline horror and compromising stance, theresa may said that if we did not get the deficit down, then we would risk following the fate of greece, which had to cut public spending which had hit public sector workers. it isn't fair to refuse to take tough decisions and to load debts on our children and grandchildren. it isn't... it isn't fair to bankrupt our economy, because that leads to people losing theirjobs and losing their homes. and it isn't fair to go out and tell people that they can have

all the public spending they want, without paying for it. then, just to underline this tough stance, we heard from the treasury minister who said that the treasury would not be opening its cheque—book to pay for bigger wage increases. the difficulty for the government is that events may be moving against them anyway because as we know inflation is nudging up towards 3% but perhaps more significantly we have seen the fire brigade union be offered a deal of potentially up to 396 offered a deal of potentially up to 3% from next year and of course other public sector unions will be watching and thinking that if the firefighters can get that, why can't we? have a listen to the general secretary of the fire brigade union when i asked if you there was any future in the pay. i think the 1% is clearly finished. it is a dead

parrot, to be honest, and it needs to be recognised because public sector workers including firefighters had been asked to sacrifice your after year after year since 2010. and leading standards are worse than they were then. lower than they were then. and it is not sustainable. decent public services means having decently paid public servants. and i guess where we are is that theresa may has today sought to put some backbone perhaps into some of her that its members over public sector pay, but the brutal truth is many in the cabinet have deep doubts as to whether it is politically possible to stick to the 196. politically possible to stick to the 1%. more than that, it is clear, and the big public sector unions will 110w press the big public sector unions will now press to get much more than the 1%. all right. many thanks indeed. norman smith. this is bbc news at five — the headlines: the government is to send in a task force to take over part of the running of kensington and chelsea

council after criticism over the way it has handled the aftermath of the g re nfell tower it has handled the aftermath of the grenfell tower fire. theresa may has defended the government's public sector pay after pressure from some of her cabinet to lift it. a new report suggests students from the poorest backgrounds could leave university with debts of more than £57,000 due to rising fees and interest rates. and in sport, andy murray is on centre court attempting to reach the wimbledon third round. these live pictures from his match against dustin brown on bbc one. as you can see coming he hasjust taken the first set by six games to three. they are currently playing the first game of the second. it has been an entertaining match so far. you can follow it on bbc one. the women's british number one survived three sets of more than three hours to eventually beat croatian opponent. 10-8 b eventually beat croatian opponent. 10—8 b score in the final set. arsenal break their transfer record with the signing of a five—year deal

that will cost up to £52.5 million. more on those stories just after half past five. students from poorer families in england will graduate with nearly £60,000 of debt, according to a report by the institute for fiscal studies — because interest rates on student loans are now at over 6%, and those from the poorest backgrounds are likely to borrow more. the government says those from poorer students are now going to university at a record rate. sean coughlan reports. cheering. it is notjust hats that are going up for students. costs are, as well. tuition fees are going up in the autumn, to £9,250 per year. and interest rates on loans are going up to over 6%. the poorer students could now leave university with debts of over £57,000. and the average student will have run up almost £6,000 in interest charges before they have even graduated.

so do students think they are paying a fair price for a good investment? yes, i think it is quite expensive for what it is. i do not think it needs to cost nine grand a year, really. you don't get that much for it. the student loan system is a pretty good system to have, but i do not necessarily agree with the amount that tuition fees are at the moment. according to the institute for fiscal studies, raising the cost of fees has given universities 25% more funding per student. but the cost has been put on the shoulders of individual students. they are graduating with the highest debt in the developed world. an average of around £50,000. with those coming from the poorest backgrounds graduating with the highest debts of around £57,000. the government has defended the tuition fee system as allowing students from any background to be able to afford to go to university. without any upfront costs for fees. this is a unique financial product, the government is making no money

on this, it is making a substantial investment in it. and that is to enable more people to go to university, more people from disadvantaged backgrounds than ever before. you are 43% more likely to go to university if you are from a disadvantaged background today than in 2009—10. this has also become a political battle, with labour pursuing the youth vote with calls to completely scrap fees. but in the short—term, at least, higher education is going to mean higher costs. stay with us — at 5.45 we'll be talking to the former minister david laws and the deputy president of the nus amatey doku. some of the other stories making bbc news at five. uk car sales have fallen for the third month in a row for the first time in six years. figures released by the society of motor manufacturers and traders show that new car registrations fell by nearly 5% injune compared to the same month last year.

but registrations of electric and hybrid cars continue to rise, with demand up 29% compared with last year. ba cabin crew have announced industrial action. it is due to struck three days after another 16 day walk—out is due to end. official figures show there's been a sharp fall in productivity — one of the main measures of the health of the economy. 0utput per hour fell by half of one per cent in the first three months of this year. it's now lower than before the financial crisis in 2007. a 52—year—old man has been found guilty of killing two of his former

girlfriends, five years apart. robert trigg, who's 52, murdered susan nicholson in 2011 as she slept on a sofa. five years before, he had killed another partner, caroline devlin, in her bed. both deaths in worthing, in west sussex, were not thought to be suspicious at the time. avon and somerset police repeatedly failed a disabled refugee who was beaten to death by his neighbour in bristol four years ago. that's the conclusion of the independent police complaints commission, who say officers ignored bijan ebrahimi's pleas for help for years. mr ebrahimi, originally from iran, made dozens of calls to police from a number of addresses over several years, to report racial abuse and threats to his life. jon kay reports. bijan ebrahimi. he told police dozens of times that his life was in danger. to just do whatever you can... what part of "be quiet" do you not understand? shut up! now, a report says that, over

several years, the iranian refugee was repeatedly failed by avon and somerset police, treated as a nuisance, not as a victim. in 2013, he was beaten to death by a neighbour outside his flat and his body set on fire. the independent police complaints commission says there were systematic failures in the way he was dealt with. today's report runs to hundreds of pages and it says this whole case has laid bare what it calls the disrespect, the prejudice and even contempt with which some officers and staff treated bijan ebrahimi in the days before he was murdered here. reading that report, it was devastating. bijan‘s sisters told me the list of failings published today had shocked them. it was so hard to see bijan all these years had been suffering. and his voice never listened to. he always thought he was in a country where the police was there to protect people. and he couldn't see

anything beyond that. last year, pc kevin duffy was jailed after being found guilty of misconduct. the jury was played tapes of him responding to one of bijan‘s calls. it's just bijan ebrahimi on the phone asking for you. no, i've no intention of taking any calls from bijan ebrahimi. community support officer andrew passmore was also jailed. pcs leanne winter and helen harris were cleared by the jury, but were later sacked by a misconduct hearing. his sisters have raised questions about racism within the force. there isn't evidence of institutional racism because we did not investigate the force as a whole, but there are some hallmarks of discrimination that could be construed as race hatred. avon and somerset police say they have improved the way that they deal with vulnerable people as a result of this case. we accept that we failed bijan ebrahimi at his time in greatest

need and throughout that time he was respectful and he had confidence and trust in the police and we let him down, and for that we are sorry. his sisters have welcomed the apology and the changes. they are still waiting for the local council to issue its report. bijan‘s sisters are still waiting for the local council's report. hip and knee replacements were once considered routine operations, but the british medicaljournal says that in england they're increasingly being rationed. the journal obtained data showing a sharp rise in doctors resorting to special appeals to get these and other once—routine treatments for their patients. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. helen is a busy woman, running her boutique hotel is a demanding job, but when her eyesight started to fail, she needed a cataract operation. imagine her dismay when she was told the nhs would only pay for one eye to be fixed at a time.

i did not want to wait another year. to have one eye... the imbalance it causes, difficult, it impacted on my life. i have got to be busy, i have to be able to see to function. a growing and ageing population is placing increasing demands on the nhs and that in turn is ramping up the pressure on finances, so to save money in some areas, funding for common treatments is being withdrawn. when that happens, gps could make individual requests on a case—by—case basis, and an analysis shows that overall these have increased by 47% in the past four years and there has also been a rise in requests for hip and knee operations over the same time period. and the number of cataract operations for which funding has been sought has also increased. decisions on which nhs services are funded in england are made by local clinical commissioning

groups, the national body that represents them says that given a limited budget, they are forced to make difficult choices. demand increases, the population increases and there is a finite amount in the budget and we have to make difficult decisions. if there was more money we could have a broader sense of how we spend it, but with loads more money in the system we should still be making appropriate choices for the patient. doctors say all health leaders need to be honest with patients about the decisions they are having to make. year after year, we have seen a lack of investment and so local areas are making these really difficult decisions and ultimately in many areas rationing services. the report today suggests more and more patients are finding procedures that were once considered routine are becoming harder to access. dominic hughes, bbc news. time for a look at the weather.

another beautiful day at wimbledon just look at this. i hope you have got some sunscreen on because temperatures have peaked at 29 celsius in south—east england. a lot of cloud in the north. disappointing up of cloud in the north. disappointing up here. 13—14dc. tonight, it will bea up here. 13—14dc. tonight, it will be a pleasant evening. temperature is not following very far at all. we will draw your attention to some showers pushing into the north—west and some down into the south—east. these could be heavy and boundary. it will be a humid, warm night. 17-18dc first it will be a humid, warm night. 17—18dc first thing in the morning. some thundery showers in the south—east. they easily. decent, dry, sunny day. quite hot in summer spots which could trigger showers as we move into the afternoon. they really will be hit and miss but if you catch them some could be heavy. top temperatures tomorrow peaking at

30 celsius widely in the mid to high 20s. much better than it has been so far this week in scotland. this is bbc news at 5 — the headlines. a taskforce will take over parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it handled the grenfell tower disaster. the housing minister admits the initial response to the tragedy from the council "wasn't good enough". hearing the harrowing accounts of survivors has been the most humbling experience of my life... the families that i've met have been through unimaginable pain. theresa may and jeremy corbyn have clashed over the cap on public sector pay. the prime minister is under growing pressure from members of her own cabinet to relax the 1% limit on wage rises. the institute for fiscal studies has

found students from the poorest backgrounds could leave university with debts of nearly £60,000. it's as a result of interest rates on the loans which now stand at over 6%. a report has found avon and somerset police repeatedly failed a disabled refugee who sought their help before he was beaten to death and set on fire outside his home. now it's time for sport with hugh ferris. good afternoon. andy murray is both basking and probably baking... in the sunshine of centre court as he attempts to provide a clean sweep of british players to reach the third round of wimbledon today. john watson has been watching it all from his perch high above the action. how's murray getting on? he will be pleased at the moment,

against austin brown. slightly unpredictable character, as we know. he has done particularly good things in the past. —— dustin brown. famously knocked out rafael nadal a few years ago. with one set in the bag, andy murray will hope now he can go on and try and close out this match. coming into wimbledon he has been struggling with that hip injury, which has caused him several problems. it forced out of some warm up problems. it forced out of some warm up matches on the grass court and the warm up in london last week. it has hampered his preparation but he is going well at the moment, up against austin brown as you can see here. 2—2 right now. a beautiful lob therefrom andy murray which just dropped in. andy murray looking to ta ke dropped in. andy murray looking to take control of that second set. a quick word on alijaz bedene, up against the bosnian player earlier today. he has also booked his place in the round will stop a big result

for him, the british number three safely taking his place in the third round. two brits through. and you have a concert, what a performance. extraordinary that the two british women got through. but in contrasting styles... absolutely. johanna konta, probably the match of the tournament, it was an epic battle out against the vekic of croatia. this was the rematch, the time they had faced each other previously, comes lost that one but as you can see, she came through in this match. 0ver as you can see, she came through in this match. over three sets, it was a real battle, 7—6, 10—8, she did it in that the decisive third. there we re in that the decisive third. there were some tears at matic at the net. sheer exhaustion after an epic battle out on centre court. highs of around 27 degrees, it was extremely warm out on centre court. but johanna konta, as you can imagine, certainly one of the favourites after her surge up the rankings. she

will be pleased to be safely through to the third round now. thank you john, reporting on three out of four british players through to the third round in today's action at wimbledon. very impressive from heather watson. arsenal have broken their transfer record to sign france striker alexandre lacazette. the deal‘s just been completed... with lacazette joining the gunners for a fee of 46 and a half million pounds on a five year contract. that could go up to as much as 52 and a half million. defending champion chris froome is the new leader of the tour de france. 0n the first summit finish of this year's race he finished third to move ahead of geraint thomas. ben croucher was watching. the tour de france can be deceptive. lurking behind such picturesque panoramas, on the shortest stage of the week. the first climate to test this week ‘s main contenders. they set a relentless pace in the ferocious spreadsheet, many of froome's main rivals wilted, but not

the italian champion, who attacked with two and a half kilometres to go ata with two and a half kilometres to go at a searing speed that even sky could not live with. a stunning summer directory, the real race was behind as broome outsprinted all but dan martin to take third place, a handful of bonus seconds, and the lead of the race, overtaking and exhausted grant thomases slipped back to second. the lost tomb entered on the yellowjersey have gone on to win in paris, and of all the scenery, this was the prettiest of pictures for froome. england have beaten south africa at the women's cricket world cup by 68 runs. the hosts posted 373 for five in their 50 overs in bristol... a score that included a record partnership of 275 between tammy beaumont and sarah taylor... who both scored centuries. south africa couldn't keep up with the run rate... handing england their third straight win in the tournament. that's all sport for now. there'll be more in sportsday at half past 6. more now on our main story: the government is to send in a taskforce to take over the running of parts

of kensington and chelsea — after severe criticism of the council following the grenfell tower fire. in a moment we'll speak to a local government expert on what type of responsibilities the taskforce will have, but first let's hear what the housing minister, alok sharma had to say in the house of commons earlier... the new leader of the royal borough of kensington and chelsea, elizabeth campbell, has given a full apology for the inadequate initial response. she has also asked for help from central government to put things right. as the community secretary has set out in a written statement today, we will be establishing an independent task force to help the royal borough of kensington and chelsea build their capability. so they can deal with the longer—term challenge of recovery. mr speaker, the prime minister promised that we would make an offer of temporary housing to all those who have lost

their homes as a result of the fire within three weeks. these are good quality, fully furnished homes that families can move on from emergency accommodation and live, rent free, ina accommodation and live, rent free, in a proper home whilst permanent accommodation on equal terms is found. 158 families from grand belltower and riverwalk have been identified, in need of such housing. —— from grand belltower and grunfeld walk. i can confirm that every family that is in need has been offered a home. 19 families have not yet ready to engage in this process. we need to respect that. some are still in hospital as a result of their injuries. in some cases, the people on the ground offering this family support have been clear that it would be inappropriate at this time, to ask them to make a decision

about where they will live. these families, mr speaker, have been through unimaginable trauma. let's talk to a professor at the department of government at lse. an expert in local government. who better to turn to to explain. what is this task force doing? it's not immediately clear. it's a task force, a immediately clear. it's a task force , a recovery immediately clear. it's a task force, a recovery task force described as independent by the minister. that sounds less than commissioners. we have seen them sentin commissioners. we have seen them sent in the past two places such as rotherham or anglesey. they have had specific roles, and in anglesey‘s case they took over everything the council did. involve there was a veto power over council did. involve there was a veto power over some council did. involve there was a veto power over some of what council was doing and it was up to the council to refer things. —— in another room there was a veto power. in this case it sounds more like an advisory committee. we are a bit

further forward. the government is into being but not it would appear taking anything over yet. sadiq khan was saying he was asking for commissioners to come in. the difference is, commissioners would actually run some of the council, and this might bejust to actually run some of the council, and this might be just to advise? indeed. a commissioner can either ta ke indeed. a commissioner can either take over. commissioners can take over everything the council could do, leadership, cabinet. all part of it. or have some veto power over what the council does. this does not sound like that. it's more advisory. even this begs the question, the underlying problem that exists in kensington and chelsea, which is need for trust to be rebuilt between the council and the people in the north of the borough, and for those who rebuild trust having the authority then to deliver on what people are asking for. that is where the problem now lies. how unusual is it, it is clearly a humiliating for

kensington and chelsea council to have a task force sent in. how unusual is it for a council to fail in this way? it is unusual. in fairness to the council, this was an unprecedented, i would say, national scale event. it is clear there were shortcomings in the immediate response. subsequently, there is a tea m response. subsequently, there is a team working with london boroughs led byjohn boro dell who was the chief executive at the city of london. they have been in there with eleanor kelly from southwark, the chief executive, rebuilding the council ‘s capacity to respond particularly in grand belltower area, but beyond that, —— is one of the key issues either for the council of the task force the rehousing of those residents who

have been displaced ? rehousing of those residents who have been displaced? absolutely. the question of how far people can be in one step. people are in temporary accommodation now. but they clearly feel they do not want to be moved from here to some more temporary accommodation, then perhaps in the future somewhere permanent. getting that right, the logistics of getting that right is what is now going to be the main challenge for the existing short—term recovery group, then the longer term people who take over possibly with advice, either the council or with advice from this task force. what they will want to do is to avoid households being stuck in temporary accommodation for weeks and weeks on end, all being housed a long way away from where they were previously living. a lot of work to do. thank you very much. during a phone call with the president of egypt, donald trump has urged for a resolution to the diplomatic crisis with qatar. saudi arabia is holding talks in cairo with counterparts to discuss its dispute with the gulf state. qatar is accused of destabilising the region by supporting extremism and terrorism,

something which was denied by its foreign minister in an interview with the bbc earlier. qatar has never and will never support any terrorist movement, or will never allow terrorism to be raised from qatar or to be channelled through qatar. it will ta ke channelled through qatar. it will take whatever measure it takes in order to get rid of them. therefore, switching from the strategic dimension in countering terrorism, qatar is willing to contribute more where we are investigating in those vulnerable countries. we are investing in the economic empowerment and job creation for the younger people, and one example as i just mentioned to you, tunisia. they have their population, most of them

are from... they have a high an appointment rate. they are representing the biggest portion of the foreign terrorist fighters. this contribution is preventing the world from terrorism. and i'm not willing to double invest in preventing the world from terrorism and investing in the other side. we see that this does not make sense for anyone, that qatar progress open—minded country, it isa qatar progress open—minded country, it is a country which wants to promote terrorism, they are just basing this on political desire. it's called panda diplomacy and it's expensive. china's president xijinping presented the two giant pandas at a ceremony attended by german chancellor angela merkel. they are on loan to berlin zoo at a cost of 800 thousand pounds a year. only a dozen or so countries have ever been loaned pandas by china and as our correspondent johny dymond reports, it's hoped they will symbolise closer ties between the two countries.

they may look friendly, but do not get too close. china's loan ofjiao qing — "darling" — and meng meng — "sweet dream" — comes from the global superpower, with a price. it is worth paying attention when germany and china meet these days. germany is europe's undisputed leader. china's surging economic power is turning into global political muscle. the chancellor and the president are meeting before the world's 20 biggest economies get together in berlin. once it might have been america around the table. but germany wants chinese help in propping up a world order destabilised by change in washington. and china wants open markets to sell into and allies it can rely on.

translation: this is pioneering for our relations. we're happy to note that, thanks to mutual efforts on both sides, chinese—german relations have reached a new phase, in which we are moving on a peak level. the panda special came to britain in the 19705, as china emerged from decades of isolation. ching ching and chia—chia were gifts, part of an effort to warm frozen relations. panda diplomacy, it became known as. now, the new pair are making hearts race in berlin. but these bamboo guzzlers are on loan and they don't come cheap. nearly £800,000 a year. for some berliners at least, they're worth every penny. jonny dymond, bbc news.

the queen and the duke of edinburgh have been leading a flotilla of boats along scotland's newest waterway and have unveiled a plaque formally naming it the queen elizabeth ii canal. it's the final section of a trans—scotland canal regeneration that was launched nearly 20 years ago. it could also be the lastjoint engagement for the queen and the duke before prince philip retires from public life next month. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. a gentle arrival by water to an area transformed. over the years, the queen and the duke of edinburgh have carried out many hundreds of engagements together during their annual visit to scotland, known as royal week. with the duke, who is now 96, due to retire from public engagements, the crowds here were making the most of their chance to see the two together. this is an area much

changed in recent years. the sculptures here honour the industrial and agricultural past of central scotland. while here, the queen was shown two clydesdales, the breed of horses upon which the sculptures were based. they are named spencer and harry and described as "a little mischievous". but today, they were on their best behaviourfor the queen. the queen knows a thing or two about horses, so i was a bit nervous, but she was very enthusiastic about them and asked me all about the history of the project and the association with the canal and the town of falkirk. it was the crowning glory of a very long project. the crowds were delighted by the royal visitors. a really good opportunity, a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity, probably for these guys. we had the classic wave. there was much affection on display here today for the queen and prince philip, on what could be one of their last officialjoint engagements.

lorna gordon, bbc news, falkirk. and in the last hour canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau has met with the queen. he is having a private audience at holyrood palace. earlier this afternoon he was awarded an honorary degree from edinburgh university, given in recognition of his commitment to equality and diversity. this is bbc news at 5 — the headlines: a taskforce will take over parts of kensington and chelsea council after criticism of the way it handled the grenfell tower disaster. theresa may has defended the government's public sector pay

"cap" after pressure from some of her cabinet to lift it. a new report suggests students from the poorest backgrounds could leave university with debts of over £57,000 due to rising fees and interest rates. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day. three quarters of graduates will never repay their student loans with students from poorer families leaving university with 57 thousand pounds of debt. the institute for fiscal studies says most graduates will still be paying off student loans into their 50s, and the amount they owe will increase due because the interest rates on the loans are set to be more than 6%. at the weekend, senior cabinet minister damian green called for a ‘national debate' over tuition fees, but the nus said students wanted to see ‘actions, not words' from the government. amatey doku, the deputy president of the national union of students, let's discuss this and now with david laws, a former liberal

democrat cabinet office and schools minister. and in birmingham studio... amatey doku, the deputy president of the national union of students, the liberal democrats famously accused of a u—turn on this issue. do you have regrets now about what you did in government? all the political parties some ways made a mess of their position on tuition fees. if we look at the fundamentals about the new system and what it has delivered to date, we can see its record in helping defunding of new places in university has been good, and more students from disadvantaged records have gone on to attend university. that is good. one of the changes in today's report that i am concerned about the money to keep an eye on is that since the original big increase in fees, the system has been tilted to be less favourable towards disadvantaged students. partly because of the loans. the interest rates. well, yes, and what

was initially going to be a maintenance grant, money actually given to the poorest students to help support the university has been changed recently into a maintenance loan. that could mean, as the report has indicated, that actually disadvantaged students come out with a higher debt than their more advantaged colleagues. that would be worrying. the figures do not yet indicate whether or not that could have an impact on disadvantaged students. but you do not regret this u—turn that you carried out in government? i regret, as all parties do, the mess they made on their positions on it. has it so far been a good policy in terms of protecting universities on their budgets, getting extra students from disadvantaged backgrounds are much it has. but that does not mean we should be complacent about the changes made recently. well let's put that to the nus. do you think... david laws they are saying it has been with for british universities?

ido been with for british universities? i do not think it has been good and new british universities. i welcome this discussion but we have seen a complete mess over this policy. the important thing is, when you talk to students, they see they are going to be worse off than their parents. they're going to be worse off than the generations before them, because they are being saddled with huge amounts of debt, debt which is set to rise, notjust because of high interest rates, but because there was an actual new scheme under the teaching excellence framework would receive these rising. so, students across the country are beginning, as we saw at the election, to make our voices heard on this issue. they are saying enough is enough, and now we need a national debate over this issue. but, and it is a big but, far more people are going to university now, to abolish tuition fees would be mind—bogglingly expensive. £100 billion in extra spending between now and 2025. basically the country just could not afford it? as you

have seen over the weekend and with some of the deals done since the election, this idea that there is simply not money left is a bit hard to swallow this time. also, look, let's think about it. higher education is a public good. this idea that students are being deterred from going to university, are not being deterred from current university, surrey, is completely disingenuous. people want to go to university to get a good education. they understand the importance of having high skills and furthering their understanding having high skills and furthering theirunderstanding in having high skills and furthering their understanding in their specific area. to say that is because of rising debts, you need to speak to a couple of students to get that point. it is about where higher education should be funded from. it should not be seen as a personal investments they go off and make a loss money as possible. society invests in individuals and then those individuals invest back into society because we understand higher education to be a public good, not an individual investment. yes, lots

more people are going to university, but is there a sense perhaps too many are going, getting saddled with huge debts, when perhaps they would be better off doing a vocational course at a college where they would not take in these huge debts that they end up with? i think you are right that actually we ought to have afairer right that actually we ought to have a fairer way of funding technical education, said the students have a genuine choice between traditional higher education and more technical approaches. we also need to look at something else, which has not worked out in the way the government anticipated when importing these. the then government expected there to be quite a wide range of fee levels set between the most prestigious universities and those of lower status. where students go on to earn less money. actually, what has happened is that almost every university has charged the maximum fee. because they can. that is expensive not only the students the taxpayer. many of those students will never pay back in full below.

what we need to do is look at some of those institutions were actually most of the students leave and are not capable of repaying back the entire feed. and question actually whether they ought to be setting lower fee levels. although i would not go to the recommendation that we spend billions and billions abolishing tuition fees, there are some serious policy issues the government should be engaging. 0ne government should be engaging. one more question to you, one of the government ‘s key arguments is that it is students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are now going to uni who were not going before. 43% more going to university from disadvantaged backgrounds than they we re disadvantaged backgrounds than they were back in 2009, 2010. briefly, what is your response to that?|j think what is your response to that?” think that is great, but it is completely disingenuous to suggest that that is because we have higher fees. that is the point that is being missed, if you speak to students, they are going to university because they want a good education. these are the same students who came out at the last election and make their voice heard

very clearly, that the current syste m very clearly, that the current system does not work for them, it does not work for the taxpayer, and it does not reflect the higher education they want to see in this country. sadly without the high fees we would not have those extra places. when out of time but thank you both so much for being with us. time for a look at the weather with louise lear. it's the glorious day for most of us, perhaps too hot for some. a glorious afternoon across murray mount at wimbledon, not a cloud in the sky. temperatures and conditions will be similar actually, over the next few days. the risk of some showers in the morning but we are not too concerned that they will interrupt play. we have seen temperatures peak at 29 degrees today, but a bit more in the way of cloud on some drizzle which has continued across the north—east of england and particularly the south—east of scotland, only 13 degrees the high. through the night to night visiting bridges are not going to fall very far across

england and wales. staying into the mid to high teens, it will be a warm start to the day, and we could see some sharp showers as well. some moving into northern ireland and western scotland, these in the south—east could turn quite heavy and thundery for a time. it will still be there potentially through the m4 corridor during the early morning rush hour, but there will be a good deal of dry weather across much of england and wales. a bit more cloud perhaps still across northern england, but a better start for the day in comparison to today. drying up into northern ireland, here are the showers to rest in scotland. they will drift steadily eastwards. it's an improving picture as we go through the afternoon. it's really worth stressing that although we start off with a scattering of showers around. the emphasis is with a dry story for much of the day, and the heat will build. that in turn may well trigger one or two isolated but sharp, thundery downpours. you will know about them if you catch one. that is worth bearing in mind. temperatures peaking at 30 degrees

in the south—east tomorrow afternoon, mid—to high 20s generally across england and wales, maybe even across england and wales, maybe even a size 21 in scotland and north—east england. comparatively, that will feel very nice indeed. the story continues into friday, we keep the heatin continues into friday, we keep the heat in the south—east, a bit more cloud further north and west, we will start to see this frontal system pushing in by the end of friday into saturday, that will bring some outbreaks of showery rain, not particularly heavy in comparison to what we had yesterday. nevertheless, it will be across northern ireland, southern scotland and northern ireland, keeping the peace in the south—east, fresher conditions following behind that weather front. —— keeping conditions following behind that weatherfront. —— keeping the heat in the south—east. turning fresher germany, a lot of dry weather but some scattered showers. tonight at six. the rising tide of knife crime in britain — and why police say they can't deal with it on their own. paula had a call from her daughter

stating her 15—year—old grandson has been stabbed. caller is hysterical. 0n patrol in birmingham — the knife is this country's number one murder weapon — and they're wielded by children. we need to step right back, and that's eight year olds, nine year olds, and guide them in a better direction and that's all over the uk. we'll be looking at efforts to change attitudes to knife crime. also tonight. it's three weeks since the grenfell tower disaster — just 1a households have been found satisfactory accommodation.